Liberal leadership bid intensifies as Hastie clashes with columnist over car-revival plan

Western Australia Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, a leadership aspirant, publicly challenged a prominent economics columnist who slammed his plan to revive car manufacturing in Australia, arguing that the nation cannot afford to be merely a consumer economy. Hastie released a weekend video urging Australians to “build things with our own hands again” and lamenting the loss of a domestic auto industry, a message that drew swift pushback from Judith Sloan, The Australian’s economics columnist, who labeled the idea alarmingly protectionist, bizarre, ignorant and corny.

Sloan argued that Australia’s car industry had long been among the most coddled in the country and could not compete globally in free markets without protectionist support. She urged Hastie to follow the economic legacy of John Howard and Peter Costello, a line Hastie dismissed as outdated. “She gives us the Boomer redirect - be more like Howard and Costello. That was twenty years ago - since then we’ve had the Global Financial Crisis, the pandemic and the rise of China,” Hastie said in the clip.

Invoking Australia’s car-making heritage, Hastie tied Holden and Ford to national pride and industrial capability. “We loved our cars. We raced them hard at Bathurst, and we drove them on our streets with pride. Some still do,” he said, while Sloan dismissed those memories and characterized subsidies that propped up the industry as a drain on the economy. She also suggested Australian workers’ wage demands supported offshoring the more skilled work.

Hastie pushed back, saying that the country must be resilient and maintain some industrial capacity in a volatile, competitive world. “In a dangerous and competitive world, we need to be resilient and have some industrial capacity in Australia. We need to be producers again,” he insisted, adding that critics sometimes overlook the strategic value of domestic production.

He also vented at what he described as a double standard among some economists, noting that commentators are quick to attack Australians who aspire for more manufacturing while refraining from naming other countries that subsidize and protect their own industrial bases—like China, the United States and parts of Europe. “Notice how these commentators are hardest on Australians who aspire for more manufacturing, but they avoid calling out other countries who subsidise and protect their industrial base,” Hastie said. “Australia is sovereign, and we should put Australians first.”

In a subsequent statement to the Daily Mail, Hastie expanded on his critique, arguing that the Howard and Costello era is effectively over and that Australia has changed significantly in the past two decades. He cited ongoing global economic turbulence—the Global Financial Crisis, the pandemic, and the era of cheap credit and money-printing by the Reserve Bank of Australia—as factors that demand fresh approaches rather than nostalgia for past policies.

Hastie’s remarks drew support from Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the North Australian senator, who on radio praised Hastie as a future leader. “Now we have uncontrolled immigration under Labor. That has caused a housing crisis that is locking out many young Australians from home ownership,” Price said, while adding, “I think he’d make a remarkable leader one day.” Price’s public endorsement, and a broader show of support from other backers, have fed speculation about Hastie’s prospects for party leadership.

Haste’s social-media posts have also criticized anonymous commentators who attacked him online, labeling them “nameless cowards.” He argued that the criticism reflects a broader debate within the Liberal Party about the direction of policy and leadership in the post-Cin era.

The leadership question has intensified intra-party tensions. Labor, seizing on the Liberal stark internal debates, highlighted the rift during a Sky News broadcast, where MPs debated who would lead the party if Ley did not quickly articulate a policy platform on issues such as net zero. In that exchange, Julian Hill challenged colleagues to declare their allegiance to Ley, Hastie, Angus King (Team Angus), Dutton or whether the Thompson-led Opposition would prevail.

Australia’s car manufacturing history provides a stark backdrop. The last carmaker shut its doors in 2017, three years after the Abbott government scrapped industry subsidies worth about $1 billion annually. At the time, Treasurer Joe Hockey argued the cost was unsustainable, telling Parliament in 2013, “Either you’re here, or you’re not,” in relation to General Motors’ Holden and its Australian operations. Hastie acknowledged that history in his video, noting that market dynamics and policy choices have shifted since then.

Former minister Christopher Pyne has publicly weighed in on the broader question of manufacturing in Australia. In 2023, Pyne described concerns regarding the industry’s departure and emphasized the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education for a country that wants to sustain high-value jobs.

The debate over revival of car manufacturing in Australia underscores a broader political contest about policy direction and economic strategy as the Liberal Party navigates leadership speculation. Hastie’s case for domestic production hinges on national sovereignty and resilience in a global economy, while critics warn against reviving a sector they view as subsidized and ill-suited to compete in open markets.

As leadership chatter continues, voters will see how the party frames its response to industrial policy, trade, and the balance between free markets and strategic support, especially as Labor seeks to frame the Liberal pitch as disconnected from contemporary economic realities. The episode serves as a barometer of tensions within the party and a test of Hastie’s capacity to translate a provocative stance into durable policy and political traction.